The New York Times gave an account of the Millenials at the weekend (people born between 1980 and 2000). The article highlights the concepts of collaboration, automatic multi-tasking, creativity and use of media in the way they want it rather than the way it was intended.
They are not fashioning careers as filmmakers or digital artists, but
they are comfortable around digital media. They maintain blogs and
create Web sites of their own. They download music and share short
videos online. They watch their share of cable and network television,
though rarely when it is scheduled, slipping to a neighbor’s apartment
to enjoy the liberating effects of TiVo.They are avid blog consumers. They read celebrity gossip blogs like
Defamer and PopSugar and shopping and travel blogs like Luxist and
DailyCandy. And they learn of new sites through the tide of instant
messages flowing into the pockets and onto the laptop screens of
millions of young adults every minute of the day.
The DIM project has a good summary and analysis of the article too.
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Someone born in 1980:
Has been part of the workforce for half a decade.
Born before home computers became common — if they had a computer in their house as a child, it was a command-line based computer: not the multi-tasking machines we think of today.
Born before cell phones — was probably in high school before they were common.
Born before the Internet — had to learn, like everyone else, about these “new” technologies.
Someone born in 2000:
Has just started elementary school.
Born into a world of instant-on communications. Parents could have called family on a cell phone from the hospital to announce their birth. Announcements could have been passed around through email.
From a practical view, these are fundamentally different people: experiencing a disruptive technology as a teenager and being born post-disruption can’t possibly be the same thing.
As a “millenial” — although barely making it in — I can’t help but think that things like this do everyone a disservice. At best, they entirely miss the point of my generation. At worst, they provide decision makers with faulty information when it comes to interacting with us.
January 23rd, 2006 at 10:21 am